Renowned filmakers are giving a helping hand to upcoming directors

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has produced hit films like 3 Idiots and Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, has now extended an interest-free repayable loan to emerging director Shlok Sharma.Chopra was here Sunday for the eighth annual Film Bazaar, organised by the National Film Development Corporation Ltd. Apart from being a part of the Film Bazar’s session titled “Master Class with Vidhu Vinod Chopra: A dialogue between Filmmakers”, he came forward and ensured help to the emerging filmmaker. Film Bazaar has played a significant role in the growth of cinema in recent years. On seeing that, Chopra, on behalf of Vinod Chopra Films and Rajkumar Hirani, extended an interest-free repayable loan of Rs.10 lakh to Sharma’s film Haraamkhor, produced by Guneet Monga.The initiative ensures that while funds are made available to deserving filmmakers, they are also responsible for returning the monies.

As neither Sharma nor Monga were present at the function held here Monday, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap received it on their behalf. ”I am proud to receive it on behalf of Shlok,” said Kashyap, who was assisted by Sharma in films like Dev.D and No Smoking. Likewise, Manish Mundra also extended an interest-free repayable loan of Rs.10 lakh to Rinku Kalsy’s “For the Love of a Man” and awarded prize money of Rs.10 lakh to Arun Karthick for “The Strange Case of Shiva (Sivapuranam)”, both showcased under Film Bazaar Recommends.

The evening also saw other budding filmmakers winning big. NFDC’s Development Award along with the prize money Rs.10 lakh went to Mostafa Sarwar Farooki for producing No Land’s Man under the co-production market. Raam Reddy’s Thithi won the sponsorship for Digital Intermediate process at the facilities of Prasad EFX under the Work In Progress Feature category. Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla’s Proposition for a Revolution won under Work In Progress Documentary section for taking their rough-cut documentary to completion.

Here’s a teaser of Anurag Kashyap’s next production that’s being helmed by five directors

This year four fine directors of B-town – Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap came together under one roof to make a film called Bombay Talkies to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema. The movie received rave reviews and now Anurag Kashyap is so fascinated with the idea of collaboration that he has planned to make more movies of similar nature. The first step in that direction is Shorts. It is a compilation of short films helmed by five directors – Shlok Sharma, Siddharth Gupta, Anirban Roy, Rohit Pandey and Neeraj Ghaywan.

Co-produced by Anurag and Guneet Monga, the movie stars the Gangs of Wasseypur trio – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Qureshi and Richa Chadda. This production will also feature a bunch of new talents like Vineet Singh, Satya Anand, Ratnabali, Bhattacharee, Preeti Singh, Murari Kumar and Arjun Srivasava.

Cineswami talks about the Gangs of Wasseypur director’s short films initiative with Viacom18

Sadly, we mean the film variety and not half pants. Short films in India are more usually than not given short shrift. At best they are seen as calling cards for emerging filmmakers who are out to prove that they can make feature length films. Vidhu Vinod Chopra made the shorts Murder at Monkey Hill and An Encounter with Faces with the latter going on to score an Oscar nomination. Anurag Kashyap made his debut with the 45-minute television short Last Train to Mahakaliand his last release was Murabba – his short that was part of the Bombay Talkies anthology. His protégé Amit Kumar made the multiple-award winning short Bypass before going on to direct Cannes 2013 selection Monsoon Shootout.

Now, Anurag is back in the shorts business. Along with Viacom18, he has produced five shorts, directed by his acolytes. Gangs of Wasseypur assistant director Neeraj Ghaywan’s The Epiphany, his second short after the award winning Shor, follows the story of a divorced couple on an awkward road trip where they are forced to re-examine the wounds of the past.

Dev.D assistant director Vasan Bala whose feature debut Peddlers played in Cannes last year and shows no signs of getting a release returns with GeekOut that deals with the subject of dual lives and posits that the Indian geek today is no longer that loser who sits in a corner. Another Dev.D AD Anubhuti Kashyap’s (yes, she’s Anurag’s sister. No nepotism here.) Moi Marjaani is the story of a single mother in small town India who finds love on the Internet. Bombay Talkies AD Shlok Sharma’s Hidden Cricket plays out like a Pepsi or Reebok World Cup commercial and should get him plenty of work in the advertising industry even if his upcoming feature Haramkhor starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a disaster.

And finally Gitanjali Rao, who won the Kodak Short Film Award in Cannes in 2006 for animated film Printed Rainbow, and then disappeared, returns with Chai, which “showcases the view of rapid change that India is going through and what it means to those people whose faces we never notice as we go along sipping our cup of everyday tea” according to the drivel that the producers sent to the media.

The shorts are part of the Ministry of External Affairs’ ‘India Is’ web campaign and they premiered on YouTube on June 3. Of the lot, Chai has proved to be the most popular with more than 30,000 people having watched it to date. Hidden Cricket has over 23,000 views, The Epiphany and Moi Marjaani some 8,000 odd and GeekOut 6,000 plus.

Anurag’s two cents on shorts: “Short films will redefine the future of Indian cinema and not some mainstream one whose fate is decided on a Friday night. In fact, shorts have already redefined it, so to speak and, are offering us perspectives that big-ticket cinema hardly does.”